


Gentle

by Alacri



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: M/M, Young Jack, young gabe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-12
Updated: 2018-04-12
Packaged: 2019-04-22 00:45:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14297106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alacri/pseuds/Alacri
Summary: During the glory days of Overwatch, Gabe and Jack are overworked and exhausted. Sometimes it's hard to step back and take a break.





	Gentle

**Author's Note:**

> This is set after SEP, but before the fall of Overwatch, so both Jack and Gabe have supersoldier enhancements. This is very slightly before Moira joined Blackwatch, and Gabe hasn't started down the path to becoming Reaper quite yet.

It was late when Gabriel got back from his incredibly important, top secret budgeting meeting of the day. It had been, to be honest, fucking _awful_. Budgeting conferences usually were. Maybe there was some masochist out there that enjoyed sitting through twelve hours of diplomats discussing the minutiae of how much money to give your organization the following year, but he certainly wasn’t one of them.

 

He had never been the kind of man to enjoy sitting around all day talking to bureaucrats, and he sure as hell hadn’t appreciated being dragged into it the way he had. He had joined because of the opportunity it presented him, for the things he’d be capable of doing, but Overwatch? For all the good that it had done, it had certainly made his life significantly more difficult than it had been during his time in the soldier enhancement program. It had been an awfully long day of arguing with the United Nations about how much funding Overwatch, and by proxy Blackwatch, would get the following year. He’d gotten a little testy towards the end of it, something Jack had given him a couple of sharp looks for, but if those fancy diplomats couldn’t handle a bit of swearing then they should be looking for other jobs.

 

Gabe finished brushing his teeth slightly more aggressively than was necessary and admitted to himself that “long day” might have been a bit of an understatement. He was tired and more than a little grumpy. He sluggishly ran one hand through his curly hair. It was nice to actually have hair again- he’d kept it short when he was in the military, but since the SEP and strike team he’d kept it a bit longer on top. Jack said it was a good look for him, but, then again, Jack was biased.

 

As he put his regulation toothbrush back into the cup he kept it in, he glanced briefly in the mirror. _Hell,_ the bags under his eyes were getting bad. Not that he could really help it; it wasn’t like the United Nations gave any of the original strike team much time to rest. There was too much to get done in too little time. Jack was having the worst of it; being Strike Commander definitely had some drawbacks. Gabe was beginning to worry that the man would be worked into the ground before he even had the chance to live life outside of a warzone.

 

He grumbled to himself, half asleep from exhaustion, and managed to drag himself from the apartment’s tiny bathroom to the bedroom. He inhaled deeply, enjoying the hominess of the bedroom. He’d put an awful lot of arguing into getting them something so cozy. Regulation be damned, he wasn’t going to sleep on scratchy army sheets anymore or live in a bunk with eleven other people like he had when he was a recruit in SEP. Overwatch had the funding to buy nicer things after all, so they could afford a little bit of luxury once in a while. The Strike Commander should have nicer things in the first place anyways. Rank came with extra perks.

 

The aforementioned Strike Commander was currently lying in bed, propped up with both of their pillows - the thief -, and reading a data pad. Gabe squinted at him. He had a gut feeling that the data pad wasn’t just light reading. Knowing Jack, it was more of the work that he was _supposed_ to be taking a break from.

 

“You know you can take breaks sometimes, right?” Jack’s head whipped up at the sound of Gabe’s voice, and he glanced back down at the data pad guiltily before looking up at Gabe’s face again. _Caught red handed._ Gabe sighed and reached out, palm up. “Give it here. It’s one in the morning, Jack. You don’t need to be working.”

  


Jack frowned, and suddenly Gabe was all too aware of just how tired the two of them looked. Jack’s eyes had shadows under them nearly as deep as Gabe’s, and both of their faces had a tendency to settle into a frown when resting. Something about that fact made Gabe deeply sad for both of them.

 

He stepped forward, grabbing the end of the data pad that Jack wasn’t holding and giving it a slight tug. The work could wait until morning; morning, in this case, being sometime after the sun came up.

 

“Jack. Please.” Jack’s expression twisted into something terribly stressed, and Gabe felt a pang of sympathy for him. He tugged at the data pad harder, and Jack’s grip tightened on it. The two of them were evenly matched, as it was, but Jack was tired, and Gabe was determined. He gently wrestled the pad out of Jack’s grasp and set it on a side table far enough away from the two of  them that Jack would actually have to get up to grab it again.

“Gabe, I can’t. There are so many people depending on me, especially with Talon in the mix. I-“

 

Gabe cut him off, tone firm. “Everyone needs breaks. You can’t do your best if you’re constantly exhausted.” Both his tone and his expression softened, and he looked down at Jack with a slight, drained smile on his face. He leaned down, gently kissing him, and then straightened with a dry chuckle. “I promise it’ll still be here in the morning.”

 

Jack rubbed at his face with one hand, running his fingers over the stubble there, and reached out with the other to catch one of Gabe’s. Gabe squeezed his fingers reassuringly as he climbed into bed next to Jack, nabbing his pillow back and pulling the flannel sheets over himself in one fluid movement. Jack grimaced as the blankets pulled towards Gabe’s side of the bed.

 

“Blanket thief.” Gabe laughed, _really_ laughed, for the first time that day; maybe even the first time that week. It was a tired laugh, but a laugh nonetheless. He tugged Jack closer, nestling his partner against his chest.

 

“Better?” Jack nodded, curling sleepily into Gabe and yawning. Something in him seemed relieved that someone had actually given him permission to rest. Gabe wrapped one arm around Jack and felt more than heard the other man yawn. It was reassuring, the two of them there together, surrounded by warmth and the smell of _home_. He closed his eyes, reveling in the moment, and sighed, deeply satisfied. Sometimes he regretted joining SEP, but when things like this happened, he had the feel at least a bit thankful for it bringing them together.

 

Gabe snapped himself out of reminiscing about the beginnings of SEP, shifting himself slightly to pull Jack as close as possible. Jack made a noise somewhere between a grunt and a sleepy whine, and snuggled into the crook of Gabe’s arm. He was already dozing off; he must have been far more tired than Gabriel had picked up on. At least there were no meetings tomorrow for the two of them to suffer through.

 

Gabe was about of doze off too, eyelids heavy. He closed them, savoring the elusive feeling of being somewhere half between sleep and extreme comfort. It was a wonderful thing, laying here with Jack fast asleep on his chest. He’d been so lucky to have even met the man, let alone come to be life partners with him. They could do great things, the two of them, and Gabe knew that together they were capable of things Talon could only dream of doing. He exhaled deeply, calmly, and curled into Jack’s embrace as he drifted off into a well-deserved sleep. Responsibilities could wait until morning.


End file.
